Details? and a thought…

I have been asked a couple of times for some details about the congregation and church that I am being considered as youth pastor for, and I have avoided doing so for quite a few reasons.  But, here are some things that may be of interest, although I am keeping it pretty vague until I have had a chance to make my visit.  The church is Presbyterian, evangelical, mid-sized, and interested in the lives of its youth, hence why they have been moving fairly quickly in securing someone to lead them.  That is all I will say for now.

On a completely different topic, Jenna Bush got married this week, which is cool and all.  But does it really matter that it was closed to the media?  Who really gives a rip as to what the ceremony looked like?  No offense to anyone, but…Jenna Bush is no different than any other 26year old young lady.  She wanted to get married, and did.  Big deal.  Could it be that she didn’t want to be a spectacle and that her father wanted to protect her from stalkers?  Gosh…such horrible things.

Callback

On Wednesday evening, I received a call back from the church.  I am headed there next weekend for a visit with them.  They have a busy weekend with a church-wide rummage sale and some special services in general, and so they thought that would be a good time for me to come and meet and greet.  There isn’t, at this point, a formal interview, but I was told the people would probably have a lot of questions for me.

Keep me in your prayers as it looks like this just might mean I am hired.

Conference Call

I just got off the phone with the church that I would really like to serve with. The conference call went smoothly. They asked a lot of tough questions, and I prayed to myself a lot (a lot of those little breath prayers) and answered as best I could. At the end of the interview, they asked me to think about when I could come down for a weekend and when I could start. The elder in charge of this stuff said he’d call me in a couple of days, at which time I find out if I move on to the next step, which is a visit weekend and then setting a start date. But it is possible that I will be going there for a weekend visit either this weekend or next weekend.

PLEASE pray! Pray hard with me!

Legalism in Seven Movements: Dirty Dishes

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of Greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisees! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean. (Matthew 23:25-26 TNIV)

One of the most obvious consequences of legalism is hypocrisy. In the case of the passage quoted above, Jesus is dealing with a spiritual hypocrisy. These men look wonderful on the outside, but inside they are still full of sin. They don’t “do” anything bad, but everything they do is tainted by the fact that they are full of “greed” and “self-indulgence.”

Resumè madness…

If you have a moment, please pray for me.  I have been sending resumès to churches for months and I have had very few bites.  I have had a number of churches call me and set up phone interviews, but nothing more beyond that.  This is where I’m at presently.  A church opportunity that, admittedly, I would love to have has set up a phone interview with me for next Monday evening.  As I said, I would love this opportunity, but I also want to be doing what God wants and nothing else.  Pray for me and pray for the church as they seek to make this decision.

Legalism in Seven Movements: Jagged Little Pill

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. (Matthew 23:23-24 TNIV)

Another dangerous aspect to legalism is that it truly does look like righteousness. Every letter of the Law is obeyed. Every ritual is preformed. The proper amount of money is given to the work of the church. The problem is, it only looks like righteousness, it isn’t really righteousness.

Legalism in Seven Movements: I Swear

Woe to you, blind guides! You say, “If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by the oath.” You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, “If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but whoever swears by the gift on the altar is bound by the oath.” You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits in it. (Matthew 23:16-22 TNIV)

This indictment by Jesus against the Pharisees echoes other comments made by Jesus elsewhere against the Pharisees. In Matthew 15, He told them,

And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, “Honor you father and mother” and “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.” But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is “devoted to God,” they are not to “honor their father or mother” with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. (Matthew 15:3-6 TNIV)

What Jesus is getting at in both of these indictments is that they word their rules in such a manner that people are no longer bound by the commandments of God. In the first instance, they have made swearing by the money on the altar or the gold in the temple to have greater authority than swearing by the temple or altar itself. Most likely this was an excuse for the Pharisees to take public oaths and sound “Godly” but not be bound by those oaths later. It was a way for them to justify their sinful actions.

Legalism in Seven Movements: Converted to Hell

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and then you make that convert twice as much a child of hell as you are. (Matthew 23:14 TNIV)

While the adherent to legalism shuts heaven’s door in people’s faces, they are simultaneously zealous for the gospel. It is this combination that is so deadly. The gospel must be preached, but there are certain people who are unworthy to hear it. You don’t throw pearls before swine, so also you don’t share the gospel with certain types of people. At least that’s what they say.

Further than this, though, is the indictment that Jesus makes against these people. What makes His comment so powerful is that He is not totally critical.

Legalism in Seven Movements: Knocking on Heaven’s Door

At the end of my previous post, I mentioned the word “legalism.” I hear this word thrown around a lot within Christian circles. It comes up especially when someone says that, to be a Christian, you have to act in a certain way. It is almost as if the Christian community is so scared of falling into a works-based mentality that any talk of works is treated with contempt. But this is not biblically true. According to the Bible, if you have no actions to accompany your faith, then that faith is a waste of time. The Bible is clear that just believing is not enough because even demons believe the right things, but, obviously, they are not Christians.

So what is legalism? This is the question that I want to seek to answer in the next seven posts. We will base our entire discussion out of the words and teachings of Jesus Christ. Specifically, we will spend our time studying His comments toward the Scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23.

Christians and the Old Testament

Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. (Psalm 119:97 TNIV)

Since Jesus has fulfilled the Law, and we are now bound by grace rather than the Law, what are we supposed to do with it?

One thing we can’t do with it is just rip it out. There are a couple reasons for this. First, this would make the OT fairly useless. If you ripped out the Law and the Prophets, you would be left with some stories, a bit of history, some poems, pithy quotes, and some erotica. Practically speaking, this wouldn’t come in very handy. The stories would be left without any grounding, some of the poems would make no sense, and the pithy quotes…well…who needs more of those?